Topics

Beginning as one does with the (partial) launch schedule:

6th Feb - Williams (livery)
11th Feb - AlphaTauri
13th Feb - Aston Martin
13th Feb - McLaren
14th Feb - Ferrari
15th Feb - Mercedes
16th Feb - Alpine

Less than two months to go so thought I'd better get a wriggle on. Calendar seems a sensible place to start:

March 5: Bahrain (Sakhir)
March 19: Saudi Arabia (Jeddah)
April 2: Australia (Melbourne)
April 16: China (Shanghai) - Covid dependent
April 30: Azerbaijan (Baku)*
May 7: Miami (Miami)
May 21: Emilia Romagna (Imola)
May 28: Monaco (Monaco)
June 4: Spain (Barcelona)
June 18: Canada (Montreal)
July 2: Austria (Spielberg)*
July 9: Great Britain (Silverstone)
July 23: Hungary (Budapest)
July 30: Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)*
August 27: Netherlands (Zandvoort)
September 3: Italy (Monza)
September 17: Singapore (Marina Bay)
September 24: Japan (Suzuka)
October 8: Qatar (Losail)*
October 22: USA (Austin)*
October 29: Mexico (Mexico City)
November 5: Brazil (Sao Paulo)*
November 18: Las Vegas
November 26: Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)

*unfortunately this little guy denotes Sprint rounds

Getting in early with a thread to cover that unerringly accurate predictor of F1's future pecking order: pre-season testing!

Brand new design philosophy this year, and so of course the F1 bods have granted teams an incredibly generous 6 days of on-track shenanigans to get ready for racing.

Barcelona: 23 - 25 February
Bahrain: 11 - 13 March

So, seven weeks and counting....

Bloke no. 1 - Max V.
Bloke no. 2 - Ricciardo

Bahrain - Verstappen
Italy 1 - It is I, Leclerc
Portugal - Russell
Spain - Sainz
Monaco - Giovinazzi
Azerbaijan - Gasly
France - Ocon
Austria - Stroll
Austria II - Tsunoda
U.K. - Ricciardo
Hungary - Bottas
Belgium - Schumacher
Netherlands - Alonso
Italy 2 - Vettel
Russia - Hamilton
Turkey - Kimi
U.S.A. - Perez
Mexico - Mazepin
Brazil - Latifi
Qatar - Norris
Saudi - Bottas
Abu Dhabi - Ocon

Obviously no cars to see as yet, but we do have the first confirmed launch date for a '21 motor: Alfa Romeo, in Warsaw, with the C41 - https://www.racefans.net/2021/01/20/alfa-romeo-to-launch-c41-in-poland-on-february-22nd/

02.15 - McLaren 35M
02.19 - AlphaTauri AT02
02.22 - Alfa Romeo C41
03.02 - Mercedes W12 E
03.02 - Alpine A521 - weirdly named in honour of a dual-carriageway up near Stoke
03.03 - Aston Martin

1st bloke - Max V.
2nd chap - Chuck Norris

Austria 1 - Hamilton
Austria 2 - Perez
Hungary - Vettel - not as if Ferrari is going to magically improve later this year....
U.K. 1 - Gasly
U.K. 2 - Hulk
Spain - Sainz
Belgium - Ocon
Italy (Monza) - Kvyat
Italy (Mugello) - It is I (aka Leclerc)
Russia - Bottas
Germany - Kimi
Portugal - Norris
Italy (Imola) - Albon
Turkey - Max
Bahrain (boring one) - Stroll
Bahrain (exciting one) - Russell
Abu Dhabi - Ricciardo

A thread for the weird, random and inconsequential.

Pig eats pedometer and then its poo starts a fire: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-51790435

The new Haas is the first to market (though not yet in the flesh) and Racefans has pointed its funky little comparison tool straight at it: https://www.racefans.net/2020/02/06/interactive-compare-the-new-haas-with-last-years-car/

No, I haven't lost all sense of time or gone completely mad (still just part way there), but from 2021 the historic & immeasurably evocative name of Racing Point will disappear from F1 to be replaced with Aston Martin: https://www.racefans.net/2020/01/31/racing-point-aston-martin-f1-team-2021-stroll/

We've made it to October and tradition dictates that it's time for a new 'Season' thread, so here it is.

Twenty two races on the calendar (though Vietnam & Zandvoort still need to be approved by FIA track inspectors), meaning we are now short two drivers for the MF1 game.  Slightly odd choice to put Azerbaijan & Canada back-to-back.

1.  Australia       - March 15
2.  Bahrain         - March 22
3.  Vietnam        - April 5
4.  China            - April 19
5.  Netherlands  - May 3
6.  Spain             - May 10
7.  Monaco          - May 24
8.  Azerbaijan     - June 7
9.  Canada          - June 14
10. France           - June 28
11. Austria          - July 5
12. U.K.               - July 19
13. Hungary        - Aug. 2
14. Belgium         - Aug. 30
15. Italy               - Sept. 6
16. Singapore      - Sept. 20
17. Russia            - Sept. 27
18. Japan             - Oct. 11
19. U.S.A.             - Oct. 25
20. Mexico            - Nov. 1
21. Brazil              - Nov. 15
22. Abu Dhabi       - Nov. 29

1st bloke - Seb Vettel Mr. L. Hamilton (Monaco onwards)
2nd chap - Carly Sainz

Australia - Hamilton
Bahrain - Grosjean
China - Hulk
Azerbaijan - Kvyat
Spain - Albon
Monaco - Kimi
Canada - Perez
France - Norris
Austria - Leclerc
U.K. - Gasly
Germany - Russell
Hungary - Magnussen
Belgium - Giovinazzi
Italy - Ricciardo
Singapore - Stroll
Russia - Bottas
Japan - Sainz
Mexico - Vettel
U.S.A. - Max
Brazil - Kubica
Abu Dhabi - Hulk

Not the 2019 Haas motor, but it is their 2019 livery (and the livery of a few other teams from years gone by):

I know, I know, terribly late with starting a topic for next season.

2019 Calendar:

17 March: Australia (Melbourne)
31 March: Bahrain (Sakhir)
14 April: China (Shanghai)
28 April: Azerbaijan (Baku)
12 May: Spain (Barcelona)
26 May: Monaco
9 June: Canada (Montreal)
23 June: France (Le Castellet)
30 June: Austria (Spielberg)
14 July: Great Britain (Silverstone)
28 July: Germany (Hockenheim)
4 August: Hungary (Budapest)
1 September: Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)
8 September: Italy (Monza)
22 September: Singapore
29 September: Russia (Sochi)
13 October: Japan (Suzuka)
27 October: Mexico (Mexico City)
3 November: USA (Austin, TX)
17 November: Brazil (Sao Paulo)
1 December: Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)

Seems Germany is sticking around for another year.

As I mentioned elsewhere, Ross Brawn is to present his 2021 vision to team managers this morning - and who knows, perhaps some details will even be released for us plebs.  Or perhaps they won't be.  What we do get is a peek at two ideas to help bump the number of overtakes for next year.

Proposal 1: Simplify the front wing by removing certain elements that are specifically designed to control the airflow around the front wheels.
Proposal 2: Increase size of rear wing flap to boost effect of DRS.

Now, one of these proposals was put forward by an aerodynamicist who works under Ross Brawn, and one was suggested by the FIA.  Ahh, but which one is which... click the following link to read full details and have the mystery revealed: http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/135189?_ga=2.80407315.566551016.1522877195-462676180.1476909048

First driver: Vettel
Second driver: Alonso Grosjean from Monza - as in starting from the Monza GP I will have Grosjean as my no. 2, I'm not suggesting that Romain hails from Monza - he was in fact born in Geneva.  Besides, had I wanted to indicate his place of birth I would've said 'Grosjean of Monza' and not 'from Monza'... a pity he wasn't born in Monza as then I could've run with 'Grosjean of Monza, from Monza'; although perhaps that would be a tad confusing, but then it's quite likely nobody besides me and thee will read anything on this page (especially this pointless ramble), and frankly I'm amazed that you're still here.  You should probably stop reading this now, absolutely nothing of merit has been or will be said.  Honestly, just stop here and go and do something more productive like, I don't know, clip your toenails, put out the rubbish, shave a peach....  Okay, now I'm done.

Australia - Grosjean
Bahrain - Kimi
China - Magnussen
Azerbaijan - Stroll
Spain - Hamilton
Monaco - J. R. Hartley
Canada - 'It is I' (aka Leclerc)
France - Bottas
Austria - Sainz
U.K. - Chrill's Mate Marcus
Germany - Verstappen
Hungary - Vettel
Belgium - Ocon, because, well, Stroll's daddy now owns his seat.
Italy - Perez
Singapore - Alonso
Russia - Sirotkin
Japan - Gasly
U.S.A. - Hulk
Mexico - Ricciardo
Brazil - Van Door
Abu Dhabi - Kimi

Obviously no cars yet but we do have the first launch date of a 2018 model:

Williams - 15th February
Ferrari - 22nd Feb
Mercedes - 22nd Feb
McLaren - 23rd Feb

Two more months

One and a bit to go

19 days and counting....

Topics about which I may have ranted in the past ten or so years.  Perhaps there is at last some hope of progress, or perhaps it will all be shot down by the F1 Strategy Group... chunk of text courtesy of Mr. Joe Saward.

"... the major push at the moment is towards putting in place a budget cap, which is expected to go before the F1 Strategy Group in the first week of November.  This will propose a top limit of $150 million, reducing over time to $100 million.  This will affect a number of the big teams, but will also make F1 much more attractive to other manufacturers.  It will also mean that it will be a lot easier for teams to become profit centres and, as a result, their value will grow exponentially.  We also expect Liberty to propose that all the teams get the same share of the revenues, allowing a small amount more for those who are more successful than others.  What is likely to follow all of this, is the argument that teams no longer need as much of the revenues as previously and that the payments should be reduced, not to become the profit margin on the NASDAQ, but rather to be invested so that the sport can go where it wants to go, and not where it has to go.  Thus, for example, if F1 wants to go a specific city and needs money to make that happen, this money could come from a new central fund created for that purpose.  The goal, of course, would be to increase the revenues by building up the races.

"There is a note in the green book about New York, one of the primary targets for a race.  This notes that things may start happening more quickly once the mayoral elections are done on November 7.  Bill de Blasio, the current mayor, is expected to win a significant victory."

Taken from: https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2017/10/24/notebook-from-a-weird-town/

Superspeedway:


More here: http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a10351934/the-2018-indycar-looks-stunning/


I like the look and I like the fact that a bigger chunk of downforce will be generated from underneath the car.

Stefan GP guy is back with fresh plans to enter F1: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/130630/exstefan-gp-boss-plans-new-team-for-2019

A mere nine months early for such a topic, but seemed as good a place as any to stick the provisional calendar:

25 March: Australia (Melbourne)
8 April: China* (Shanghai)
15 April: Bahrain (Sakhir)
29 April: Azerbaijan (Baku)
13 May: Spain (Barcelona)
27 May: Monaco
10 June: Canada (Montreal)
24 June: France (Le Castellet)
1 July: Austria (Spielberg)
8 July: Great Britain (Silverstone)
22 July: Germany (Hockenheim)
29 July: Hungary (Budapest)
26 August: Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)
2 September: Italy (Monza)
16 September: Singapore*
30 September: Russia (Sochi)
7 October: Japan (Suzuka)
21 October: USA (Austin, TX)
28 October: Mexico (Mexico City)
11 November: Brazil (Sao Paulo)
25 November: Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)

*Provisional


First ever triple-header for F1 - France/Austria/UK